Create a code based on the weights of various items.  For example, if a 5-pound bag of sugar weighs 5 pounds (obviously), put the letter ‘A’ in a conspicuous spot on the bag. When the players weigh the bag, it means A=5.  If you had a 10 lb item, put a ‘B’ on it that looks like the A – meaning if you use a bright pink sticker, use the same bright pink sticker for the B so it looks like it belongs together.  Then, the players are to weigh the B to get 10, and, therefore, B=10, and so on, until they have decoded the 'number message.' 

 You’ll need to have as many items as there are letters in your message.  Make sure your scale rounds up – and don’t allow it to read decimals so you can use whole numbers in your code.  If your scale doesn’t round up, simply put a note by the scale for the players to round up the numbers.

 

For example, if your message is 3-1-5-10    4    2-8-8-7

And it is decoded as 'Find a Book.'  You could find items of various weights and make the code: 

A=4 (64 oz Ketchup bottle, small bag of dog food, medium pumpkin)

B=2 (a pineapple, 32 oz. of water, 1L bottle of soda)

D=10 (large sack of potatoes, large bottle of laundry detergent)

I= 1 (can of beans, block of butter, single baseball, football, book)

F= 3 (steam iron, box of wine, can of Crisco)

K=7 (medium sack of potatoes)

N=5 (Mr. Coffee 12-cup coffee maker, bag of sugar, 2L bottle of soda)

O=8 (gallon of water or milk)

 

Props needed for this scenario:

• A kitchen / food scale

• You will need an item of a specific weight for each letter of your code. The items must fit on your scale, so this may take some trial and error to choose your items.

• Stickers to mark the letters of all the same color (ex: you can get bright neon sticker dots and write the letters you need on them and stick to the items)